1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new and improved transport device for the delivery of several tubes wound with a textile material, for example, laps from a lap formation or forming machine to a lap processing machine, by means of a transport truck, which has an installation or receiver for reposingly receiving the laps, whereby, viewed in the longitudinal direction of the transport truck, these laps are deposited one behind each other and coaxially with respect to each other at a predetermined spacing or distance. In order to deliver the laps, the transport truck is fixed to the lap processing machine in a predetermined position by guide or positioning devices
2. Discussion of Background and Other Information
The demands for an automated spinning mill are continually becoming more important in practice.
This not only relates to the sequence of operations on the individual machines, but also to the transport of textile material between the individual stages of the process, particularly as the units or items to be transported are continually becoming larger and thus heavier.
Therefore, various proposals also have been made in order to transport the lap rolls or laps, which can have a weight of up to 25 kilograms and more, from a lap formation or forming machine, for example, Unilap Machine of Reiter Machine Works Ltd., located at Winterthur, Switzerland (Combing Preparation Prospectus, in Print No. 13 43 d-0987) to a subsequent combing machine In this connection, an overhead trolley system is used, and several laps are simultaneously brought by transport rails to the combing machine, in the example shown, four laps, which are then deposited at that location.
This overhead transport system and others offer a very reliable, easy to operate and material-protecting transport device; however, they require a large investment, as well as corresponding head room.
Simpler and cheaper systems have been realized for this purpose, by means of which a number of laps located on a transport truck are guided upon the floor to the combing machine (Prospectus of Zinser Company of West Germany, concerning the Super Lap 810).
In this connection, a transport truck is provided with a longitudinal receiver, for instance, a transport cradle, which is loaded, at the lap formation or forming machine (Super Lap), with four laps at predetermined chronological intervals. With this operation, the transport truck is conveyed by a guide device to the lap formation machine, and is positioned, by means of a displacement device, at the proper point in time with respect to the delivery location of the lap formation machine. The laps are deposited at a predetermined spacing or distance from one another, corresponding to the pitch of the combing heads of the subsequently arranged combing machine.
After the fourth lap has been accepted, the positioning device is released and the transport truck can be manually pushed to the combing machine.
The transport truck is brought into position by a further guide or locating arrangement at the combing machine, so that there can be accomplished the exchange of the depleted tubes against full laps.
The exchange operation is carried out manually, and initially there must be removed a number of tubes corresponding to the delivered or infed laps, in order to make it subsequently possible to insert the new laps manually in the unwinding position of the combing machine.
The empty tubes are then deposited on the transport or loading cradle of the transport truck and transported back to the lap formation machine.
With this exchange, or changing operation, it is necessary to intermediately store the empty tubes on the combing machine, in order to free a place for the subsequently introduced full laps.
This operation requires a considerable number of manual manipulations or operations and additionally is time consuming, as the laps must be deposited manually, singly and consecutively.